Rising country star Brayden King is “living the dream’ with a new single getting play on many major radio stations and playing up to 200 tour dates a year including placing 55 on American idol.
In between all that, the 22-year-old musician, originally from Weyburn, Saskatchewan, hangs his hat in Lethbridge.
he returns to the Slice on Tuesday, May 16 to open a western Canadian tour, which goes all over Alberta and B.C, and ends in Regina on June 3 and including a visit back home the night before.
“ I’m a rocking country singer originally from Weyburn , Saskatchewan. I started my solo career about two years ago and just been hitting the road really hard, playing a lot of shows and putting some new music out there . It’s been a fun ride so far, said King, who se single “ Living the Dream” is getting play on mainstream radio.
“‘It is one of the coolest things in the world, honestly. I never expected this song to do anything like it has been. So It a real blessing and I’m very thankful,” he said.
“ Living the Dream was written about a hangover and it’s kind of funny how it comes out with a positive sounding feel with but a bit of darker undertones in the lyrics. But it is definitely an anthemic sing-a-long song and people have been loving it. I wrote it with a couple of buddies of mine, Drew Shalka and Mark Maclure out of Edmonton just super stoked with how it turned out and people have been loving this one, so it’s a real blessing the have such a great response” he said.
King is planning to release a new single every eight week probably for the next two years.
“No real plans for a larger project. We just want to get a bunch of content out there. Just testing the waters to see what people like. So we have a bunch of songs ready to go and we]re just going to throw them out there,” he said, adding music has always come naturally to him.
“ It’s always been an automatic thing for me. I always just loved music. Ever since I could talk, I’ve been singing, so it’s kind of a no-brainer for me to do this because I’ve always just had a love for music and performing in my blood. So it’s my first choice and I’m loving it,” he said adding his mom always enjoyed singing and could play piano by ear but his dad isn’t very musical.
“But they both love music and there was always a lot of music going on around the hous . So it was definitely a very supportive upbringing for myself wanting to be a musician,” he said adding he took guitar lessons for a number of years and some vocal and piano lessons.
“Lots of self teaching as well but I wouldn’t be able to do that part without the base of lessons I had when I was younger,” he said.
Brayden King placed 55th in American Idol this year. He noted one of American Idol’s casting directors reached out to him about participating in the show after seeing his videos on Tik Tok. So he went to Las Vegas to participate and got thumbs up from judges Luke Bryan, Katie Perry and Katy Perry.
He advanced through the first two rounds of “Hollywood Week”, and is currently sitting in the Top 55.
“They found me through my videos on Tik Tok and they sent me a DM through Instagram and basically asked if I wanted to do a virtual audition. So I did a couple virtual auditions and then it ended up they invited me down to Las Vegas to audition for the celebrity judges. That audition did very well, I got three yeses from the judges and went all the way through Hollywood Week. So pretty cool,” he said adding he said he enjoyed the experience.
“I don’t know how much I learned. All I would say is I don’t think I’ll ever be that nervous again in my life. So for any upcoming performances. I don’t normally get nervous but I don’t know if there will ever be a high pressure situation quite like that. So it just set me up for I don’t think there will be anything to be scared of going on any stage or doing anything in my career because that was freaky. And I met so many like minded artists and took away a lot of friends from that whole scenario. it was pretty cool,” he said.
His next single “Bad Night to Be A Beer” is also the name of his new tour.
“It’s going to be with a full band. We’re really looking forward to it. We’re starting off in Lethbridge, here at the Slice on May 16 and heading out to Red Deer, Calgary, Edmonton, Grand Prairie and then into B.C we’re doing Sicamous, Kamloops, Penticton, Kelowna and Vancouver. And then we’re hopping back to my home province. We’re doing three shows in Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Weyburn and Regina to end it off. It’ll be a lot of fun,” he said.
His band for this tour includes guitarist Roman Koslowski, drummer Cody Mack and bassist Cam Dougall and co headliner, B.C. musician Beamer Wigley with whom he will be sharing the band.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m really, really excited. Beamer’s incredible. It’s just going to be a great, great show, the whole tour so we’re really excited to take this one on the road,” he said, adding he is looking forward to starting the tour in Lethbridge
“You’re going to be hearing a lot of high energy country and rock and roll music. It’s going to be a lot of fun. We like to run around the venue and get people up dancing. It’s really high energy, it doesn’t matter what day of the week it is, we’re always going to have a party. I don’t want to give away too much, but lots of originals and a good chunk of covers, sing-a-longs that people are going to have a lot of fun with. So I am super, super excited,” he said.
Tickets are on sale through his website https://www.braydenkingmusic.com/
The show how begins at p 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door.
—By Richard Amery, L.A. beat editor
